epic games cross-platform

Epic Games is Releasing its Cross-Platform Tools to Developers for Free

Epic Games has often been at the forefront of the cross-platform play movement, largely due to the Fortnite phenomenon. From the drama spawning from Fortnite (and Minecraft) appearing on Switch to PlayStation finally testing the waters, through Fortnite of course, Epic Games has stood to benefit from every new chapter in this story. But Epic Games has also used that position to give back to the development community, and a new plan to roll out its cross-platform tools through 2019 cements Epic Games as the leader in this growing space.

In a new blog post from Epic Games, the company gives us some intriguing insight into this world, stating that developing tools for live games goes “far beyond the functionality of a traditional game engine.” However, once these tools are made and working, they are apparently quite easy (relatively speaking) to scale. To that end, the company has laid out a roadmap to bring its tried and tested tools to developers for free. These tools are advertised to work with “all engines, all platforms, and all stores.”

Through Q3 2019, Epic Games will be making the following tools available:

  • Cross-Platform Login, Friends, Presence, Profile, and Entitlements (Q2-Q3 2019 on PC, other platforms throughout 2019)
  • PC/Mac Overlay API (Q3 2019)
  • Cross-Platform Voice Comms (Q3 2019 to all platforms)
  • Cross-Platform Parties and Matchmaking (Q3-Q4 2019 to all platforms)
  • Cross-Platform Data Storage, Cloud-Saved Games (Q2 2019)
  • Cross-Platform Achievements and Trophies (Q3 2019)

According to Epic Games, this is just the beginning. The company will also be working on things like support for user-generated content, growing social features, anti-cheat tech, and more.

[Source: Epic Games]

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